The Senate yesterday unanimously passed a resolution backed by the Israel lobby group AIPAC expressing support for Israel’s attack on Gaza and saying not a word about Palestinian deaths.

The Hill says that the resolution passed “through a unanimous consent agreement.”

“The United States Senate is in Israel’s camp,” [South Carolina Senator Lindsey] Graham said on the Senate floor Thursday.

The resolution describes Palestinian attacks on Israel as “unprovoked” and says not a word about Palestinian deaths, but speaks of the survival of Israel in urging the dissolution of the unified Palestinian government:

Reaffirms the United States’ support for Israel’s right to defend its citizens and ensure the survival of the State of Israel…

Calls on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to dissolve the unity governing arrangement with Hamas and condemn the attacks on Israel.

“I strongly condemn the heinous attacks being perpetrated by Hamas and other terrorist groups against Israel. No country should have to live under a constant threat of aggression against its people, and I stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel as it defends itself against this shocking violence. My heart goes out to the citizens of Israel and the countless civilians in Gaza caught in this Hamas-initiated violence.”

MJ Rosenberg says it’s all about pro-Israel money, and that Senators have a double standard for US military actions and Israeli ones:

Note that even progressive saints Elizabeth Warren, Al Franken, Sherrod Brown, and Bernie Sanders found nothing in this to object to.

For the record, no U.S. military adventure has had the support of all hundred senators in decades. But, hey, this is Israel. And, more important, this is AIPAC. And cash.

Sheldon Adelson
Chairman and CEO, Las Vegas Sands Corporation
Estimated worth: $36.8 billion
Iran-related contributions:
Over $1.5 million to the FDD [Foundation for the Defense of Democracies] between 2008 and 2011;
at least $1.04 million to AIPAC since 2007

• In October 2013, Adelson—who along with his wife, Miriam, was the GOP’s biggest donor during the 2012 presidential campaign—said the United States should drop a nuclear bomb in the Iranian desert to persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear program.

Paul Singer
Founder, Elliot Management hedge fund
Estimated worth: $1.5 billion.
Iran-related contributions:
$3.6 million to the FDD between 2008 and 2011;
$1.5 million to AIPAC between 2010 and 2011

• Singer was listed as the American Enterprise Institute’s second-largest donor in 2009, giving $2.31 million to the organization between 2009 and 2011. He was also a major fundraiser for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.

Bernard Marcus
Co-founder, Home Depot
Estimated worth: $3.6 billion
Iran-related contributions:
$10.7 million to the FDD between 2008 and 2011,
making him its biggest donor in that period;
$2.1 million to the FDD in 2012;
$650,000 to the AEI between 2007 and 2012;
$2.45 million to AIPAC between 2007 and 2012

• In the 2012 presidential campaign, Marcus contributed $60,000 to the Republican National Committee and $20,000 to a Mitt Romney Super PAC; he also maxed out his personal contributions to the Romney campaign.

The contributions to AIPAC from all three donors were directed to the American Israel Education Foundation, which calls itself “the charitable organization affiliated with AIPAC.”

Let’s be clear about this. Democrats are getting support from an organization backed by Republican high-roller Sheldon Adelson, who called on Obama to nuke Iran. Support for Israel transcends American politics. It has not been politicized. Even Rand Paul supported the Gaza resolution yesterday.

30 Responses

It won’t even occur to these shallow, callous people how they have demeaned their office, performing tricks for cash. They act like they are all on drugs, their responses triggered automatically by their handlers.

@Boomer, when I called Senator Patty Murray’s office just now, her phone answerer didn’t even want to say whether or not Murray had voted for this, and pretended that it was too hard to find the record of the vote.

Honest question, Phil: why do you keep giving oxygen to a racist bigot like MJ Rosenberg? Why do you keep giving him space for quotes? Have you not seen the things he has written about Abiminah, Blumenthal and this site as well? You’re tendency to look it all over looks almost like Stockholm Syndrome.

The Nation is reporting that the “anti-Iran lobby machine dominates Capitol Hill.

The Nation mumbles on, as usual scared of calling things what they are. It’s the Israel lobby not “anti-Iran lobby machine”. They’re scared of calling it what it is. Clifton’s doing a better job in the actual article but he doesn’t connect the dots(I’m guessing its his editors, not Eli himself) and talk frankly about Jewish conservative donor networks in a broader context.

Probably because Rosenberg shares Phil’s laser-like focus on “The Lobby.” Please note that the roll call of “anti-Iranian” Jewish billionaire funders describes them as part of AIPAC, the Israel Lobby. But are they lobbyists for Israel whose actions are directed from Tel Aviv, or do they represent domestic concentrations of power with a strong pro-Israel bias? The answer is significant. If they are lobbyists, then they are foreign to the body politic and can be removed without disturbing the underlying foundations of power. If, however, they, along with the military industrial complex, the main stream media, et al, are part of a biased domestic power structure, then change would require a challenge to the very foundations of empire, something Phil has no intention of undertaking.

anyone here have any knowledge of Livefyre or it,s Ceo, Jordan Kretchmer???.

One of our lead News papers is using Livefyre to power it,s discussion /comments section.

The site is rife with trolls insulting Irish people and there are endless accusations of antisemitism.Providing links or comments from other media sources are not allowed , so it is almost impossible to defeat the trolls.

Most frustrating.

My cynical side tells me Livefyre is a quasi information gathering op.It,s Hq is in SF.

Does anyone realize that this kind of resolution and all the money and support the USA gives Israel means that more Americans will die in terrorist attacks? Does anyone understand that Ramzi Yusef and his Uncle Khalid Sheikh Mohammed attacked the Twin Towers and The Pentagon precisely because of US support for Israel?

No, we didn’t ‘realize’, because they confessed behind closed doors in Guantanamo after being tortured. And if ‘Uncle Khalid’ attacked anyone, then Uncle Sam went round the back way to help him. Architects and engineers say skyscrapers don’t just melt and vaporize. To summarize, it is a little loutish of you to say that “this kind of resolution and all the money and support the USA gives Israel means that more Americans will die in terrorist attacks.” It is not “Americans” but Palestinians who are mainly dying.

@can of worms, we do know that our support of Israel has earned us the well-deserved hatred of millions of people worldwide. You’re right that the Palestinians are the ones who are dying. And that skyscrapers don’t just melt and vaporize.

O.K. We all know we dont a have single American in the US Senate–actually we have known this for some time.

So what we gonna do about it?
What do other countries do when their country and goverment has been taken over?
We are as occupied as the Palestines now , we just havent felt the full brunt of it yet but no doubt I-First will clamp down on us even more soon.

One wonders if Lindsey Graham actually believes that Israel’s illegal colonization programme in the West Bank is not a huge part of the problem? Or he knows this, but suppresses any comment regarding it for his own political benefit.

I could have sworn that according to numerous Mondoweiss reports, support for Israel is plumetting.
So , in reality, at least regarding the present operation ,there’s unanimous (!) support in the Senate, and from the President. Today there were also statements supporting Israel’s right to self-defense from Chancellor Merkel and the Foreign Minister of Australia. Egypt is also blaming Hamas.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is now accepting applications for its National Security Trip to Israel, a highly subsidized seven-day trip for D.C. area young professionals pursuing careers in national security. The twenty selected participants will enjoy high-level meetings and seminars with senior government officials and experts on a host of security issues. Last year’s meetings included private conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Meir Dagan, Shaul Mofaz, Mark Regev and other senior government officials and policy influencers. The expect to receive a high number of applications for a limited number of spots. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. While the application deadline is Monday, October 8, they’ll be reviewing applications on a rolling basis. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Julia at [email protected] or 202.207.0185.
2012 Reverse Mifgash

On October 15th, the CJSA and the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington will be hosting 12 Israelis who will be visiting Washignton D.C. The 2012 Reverse Mifgash brings 12 Israelis, who have participated on DC Community: Taglit Birthright Israel Trips to DC for a ten-day experience. This year, the Israelis will be arriving in DC on October 9 and will join us for lunch on the 15th at noon.

This is a great oppurtunity to welcome friends from Israel. If you would be willing to take some time out to join them for a brown bag lunch please send me a quick email (if you haven’t already) lettting me know you’ll be there.

Senate staffer writes on U.S. law by day, Jewish law by night
An excellent story was written about one of our colleagues. If you haven’t seen it take a few moments to read the whole story. Clip below:

Bill Dauster spends his professional life drafting laws for the U.S. Senate. He spends much of his free time studying a very different kind of law – the Torah. By day, Dauster works as deputy chief of staff for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. But in his free time, he has produced some of the Web’s most detailed explication and analysis of the Jewish Bible. Dauster has written Wikipedia entries for each of the Torah’s 54 chapters – or parsha – and he constantly updates them with new information and insight.

FREE 10-day Taglit-Birthright Israel: DC Community Trip this WINTER!
Are you a Jewish young professional or graduate student, ages 22 to 26, living in the Greater Washington area who has never been to Israel on an organized trip before? This trip is for you! With trip provider Shorashim, you will travel for 10 days this winter with Israelis who will share the beauty, excitement, and complexities of their country with you. Experience the history and challenges of modern Israel while building a community of fellow Washingtonians. Returning applicants are able to apply on September 10th and new applicants on September 12th. For more information, please visit link to shalomdc.org. The trip fills up fast, so get on the bus and join us on an amazing 10-day adventure! Please contact Sara Weiner at [email protected] or (301) 230-7266 with questions.

Unanimous vote for destroying our national security, endorsement of mass murder, collective punishment, incitement to violence, shattering of lives, blowing up babies,
disproportionate violence against the indigenous people of Palestine………

Krauthammer on Fox News just said HAMAS is to blame for Palestinian civilian deaths. The Five panel says HAMAS is “on their own.”
And Israel calls it “mowing the grass.” And “Israel is not trying to take Gaza back.”
Israel “dropped leaflets, went door to door–what were those boys doing on the beach?”
And “Why does a tweeter call Israelis ‘scum'”?
“Israel is a proxy for US when HAMAS can’t get to US.”
“Israelis go out of their way to prevent civilian casualties. Palestinians are disgusting.”

Disgraceful. As an American, I feel so disgusted, ashamed, indignant, but sadly, not at all surprised, that my government could be so myopic, one-sided, and without values. Compare these voices from 22 members of the Biritish Parliament earlier this week (from both sides of the aisle — by my count- 15 Labour, 1 Labour Cooperative, 2 Liberal Democrats and 4 Conservatives). link to youtube.com But here in the great USA, nothing about the slaughter of innocents, nothing about the root causes of the conflict, no balance whatsoever. According to the US Senate, and far too many voices in the US Media, this conflict seems to have sprung sui generis from Hamas rocket fire, without any acknowledgement or consideration that (i) Israel has instituted a years-long siege against Gaza and her people; (ii) Israle still occupies Gaza by its stranglehold on her people, resources, and borders, (iii) as such, Gaza Palestianians have the right under international law to use armed resistance to resist such cruel and ongoing deprivations of her peoples’ rights and (iv) Israel, as an occupying power, has clear duties under international law to safeguard her people and use only PROPORTIONAL force in the exercize of any arguable “self-defense. ” Although I find the rockets from Gaza to be both immoral (as they are directed haphazardly and without regard to the safety of Israeli civilians) and amazingly stupid tactics (as they have no hope of accomplishing anything but giving the Israelis excuses for attack that in too many cases are sufficient to beguile the uninformed in the US political culture based on sound-bite analysis and knee-jerk reflexive support for Israel), the appaling myopia and callous disregard by US politicians and media of the tragedy being visted on Palestianan civilians is so shocking, so saddening, and completely unacceptable.

What exactly is a “unanimous consent agreement?” Does that mean that 100 senators were present and each registered an “aye” vote? Did 100 senators give a voice vote of “aye” and none said, “nay?” Did a quorum of Senators present all vote “aye” and none “nay” by individually registered or collective voice vote? Did a quorum of senators present vote “aye” in the majority for an agreement phrased as “unanimous consent” with a minority voting “nay” or abstaining? If the reporter for the Hill is as slanted in covering the Senate as covering Israel’s ground invasion, we’ll never know.

Rusty, it’s a feature of the Westminster system. It usually means that it’s passed unanimously because noone objects to it. There’s no roll call or division of the house which are time consuming and it makes for more efficient functioning. So the chair/speaker etc will usually ask the parliament if there any objections before stating that it’s been passed by unanimous consent.

Here’s an interesting and informative commentary on Rand Paul’s transformation re Israel. Among other things, near the end we learn that he has purged from his website a reference to something his father wrote. Rand does not equal Ron:

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